Residual light inside the cladding of an optical fiber (e.g., pump light and/or signal light; together these are referred to as “cladding light”) often produces detrimental or, in some cases, catastrophic problems for the device or related components/systems associated with the optical fiber (e.g., a laser source). Therefore, it is desirable to strip cladding light off of the optical fiber at various positions in order for the corresponding device to work properly and reliably.
Conventional methods of stripping cladding light usually create excessive localized heat for the corresponding device to dissipate. Accordingly, existing cladding light dissipaters have very limited performance in power handling and are inherently unreliable.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,575,181 (hereinafter, “Ishikawa”), titled “OPTICAL FIBER ASSEMBLY WITH CLADDING LIGHT SCATTERING MEANS”, issued Mar. 11, 1986, and is incorporated herein by reference. Ishikawa describes an optical fiber having a core and a cladding that is covered with a protecting film. The film is removed in a predetermined region extending from the end face of the optical fiber along the optical fiber, and the cladding is exposed. The surface of the exposed cladding is formed with a rough surface, and a laser beam which is transmitted to the cladding is scattered externally from the rough surface. The optical fiber is mounted on the hollow holder, and the rough surface of the cladding is disposed in the holder. The beam component scattered externally from the rough surface is absorbed by the light absorbing layer on the inner surface of the holder.
Other patents that can be used with or in the present invention include U.S. Pat. No. 5,336,366 (hereinafter, “Cain et al.”), titled “NEW DRY ETCH TECHNIQUE”, issued Aug. 9, 1994; U.S. Pat. No. 6,905,627 (hereinafter, “Wei et al.”), titled “ETCHING METHOD FOR FABRICATING HIGH QUALITY OPTICAL FIBER PROBE”, issued Jun. 14, 2005; U.S. Pat. No. 5,136,818 (hereinafter, “Bramson”), titled “METHOD OF POLISHING OPTICAL FIBER”, issued Aug. 11, 1992; U.S. Pat. No. 4,894,127 (hereinafter, “Wong et al.”), titled “METHOD FOR ANODIZING ALUMINUM”, issued Jan. 16, 1990; and U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,199,924, 7,391,561, 7,429,734, 7,471,705, and 7,539,231; U.S. patent application Ser. Nos. 11/565,619, 11/688,854, 12/018,874, 12/050,937, and 12/624,327; and U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/263,736; which are each incorporated herein by reference.
There is a need for an improved cladding-light dissipater and method, particularly cladding-light dissipaters having improved power handling and reliability.